Some upsetting news from our friends at the Center for Biological Diversity. Cut and pasted from an email alert sent out by CBD’s Kieran Suckling:
Two weeks ago the last known American jaguar died. Not in the wild. Not by mistake. He was euthanized on a stainless-steel table in Phoenix.
When the state-sanctioned vet said it was better for Macho B to die this way than in the wilderness, where he had lived for 15 years, I was taken aback. When the vet said Macho B could have lived another two months, I wondered: Why the rush to euthanize him? When the vet said Macho B’s death was “necessary” due to long-term kidney failure, I called for an independent investigation.
The story just didn’t add up.
The first of the independent investigations is complete, but state and federal wildlife agencies won’t release it. The Arizona Daily Star, however, talked to the investigators and confirmed my worst fears.
Tissue samples show no sign of kidney failure. Indeed, University of Arizona pathologist Sharon Dial stated that, “For a supposed 15-year-old cat, he had damned good-looking kidneys.”
The euthanization was rushed and unnecessary. Macho B was likely suffering from severe dehydration, probably brought on by his snaring, anesthetizing, and collaring. Rather than being killed, said Dial, Macho B should have been given intravenous fluids for 24 to 48 hours. There was just not enough information to support euthanizing him so quickly.
Macho B was injured, possibly fatally, during capture. Though the wildlife agencies publicly denied Macho B’s death was caused by “capture myopathy” (i.e. stress and injury), internal memos stated: “Department personnel suspected capture myopathy/renal failure.” Only after the Star’s investigation was it revealed that Macho B’s paw was severely swollen, and deep scratch marks were found seven feet up the tree where he was snared.
The necropsy was botched. Investigations into the cause of death have been hampered by a decision to do a “cosmetic” rather than a full necropsy so that Macho B’s pelt could be stuffed for “educational” presentations. Why and who deemed this more important than a full investigation?
The only good news to report is that the Center for Biological Diversity’s lawsuit to establish a federal recovery plan and protected critical habitat for the jaguar is going well. In a hearing last Monday, the federal judge peppered the government’s lawyer with skeptical questions, showing his discomfort with how the agency has continually changed its rationale for not protecting America’s jaguars.
Establishment of a federal recovery plan would likely have prevented the death of Macho B, and it certainly would have prevented what one pathologist called a “lack of total transparency” in how the post-capture handling has been conducted
More on the story is available here. CBD’s Jaguar Legal Defense Fund is asking for your donations.
This story is just breaking my heart.
I have a question, though, and in asking it, I have to admit to something that’s going to make you think a lot less of me. Just as a fair warning.
I was watching MonsterQuest (I know! I’m sorry.) this weekend and they had an episode about mysterious sightings of big black cats around the country (most of which, it turns out, are probably dogs) and so they were talking about the potential for some of these sightings to be jaguars and so they were explaining that this was very unlikely because, in general, there are no jaguars in the U.S. The exception being three jaguars which have been photographed recently (and they showed two pictures and insinuated that they were of two different cats) in the southwest. Then there was some talk of one of them—Macho B, I think—being seen marking, which leads them to believe that a.) he thinks (or thought, I guess) of that area as his territory and possibly b.) that there may be other jaguars nearby who need to know it.
So, my question is, was MonsterQuest mistaken about the other two jaguars or did it turn out that they might have wandered into the U.S. but didn’t regularly live here?
Man, when I saw that email, it about broke my heart. It’s appalling to me that the people involved could have been so careless and hasty.
That is so sad.
Wow, this is all just so far out of line. What kind of moron vet is this eager to take it upon his or her self to euthanize a wild Jaguar? As sad as it is, it’s the stupid and crazy in this story that stand out.
yeah, read about this.
This is horrible! How could they be so careless with such a rare and endangered being?!